Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that star striker Wayne Rooney will miss Manchester United’s Europa League last 32 second leg match against Ajax on Thursday.
The England international has a throat infection, which has been a problem over the last week, and will be rested.
“Wayne is out tomorrow. He has a really bad throat,” the Scottish coach told Sky Sports.
“There were traces of it in Amsterdam and we gave him some medication but it got worse.
“He has been in bed over the weekend and came in today for the first time and we are trying hard to get him right for Sunday,” he admitted.
Ferguson went on to state that promising youngster Paul Pogba may well make an appearance, but the French starlet is not the only player in need of gametime.
“It is possible we could give Pogba a run-out,” said Ferguson.
“It depends because there are a lot of players who need a game; Nani, [Ashley] Young, [Javier] Hernandez, [Tom] Cleverley, [Chris] Smalling, [Phil] Jones.
“Those players will all play tomorrow and we hope to put a sprinkling of experience amongst it,” the coach concluded.
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United lead the tie 2-0 after victory last week at the Amsterdam Arena.
Last week, the Football Association handed over more power to the Premier League after the government ordered a re-shape of the organisation. This was another significant battle won by the Premier League after the Elite Players Performance Programme (EPPP) was passed by the football leagues, with the Premier League on such a power drive, it’s very likely that we’ll see B teams within the next five years.
The idea, the Premier League claim, will benefit the national team, which has mainly struggled since International football began. In reality, what the Premier League and it’s coaches have done is look at Spain and thought, well they keep winning, so why don’t we copy what they are doing?
The B team idea would only benefit the top teams in the Premier League, the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Manchester City and Manchester United; it would as former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said during his time on Merseyside “bridge the gap between the youngsters and the first team”.
These teams aren’t interested in helping England out, none of them have English owners and the majority of their players aren’t English, what the likes of Chelsea want to do is be able to play the likes of Josh McEachran, Ryan Bertrand and Gael Kakuta in the Championship, but be able to play them for the first team should injuries occur.
Former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas made that clear enough when he said: “But, here at Chelsea, we do produce talent. Players are coming through. It’s still a massive jump, again [to come]. It’s a waiting process but there is quality in this academy. Will it be too big a gap to come straight into the first team? Maybe, yes. But could they do that if they were playing at Championship level with a team representing Chelsea? Perhaps, yes.”
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As a fan of said club, the idea appeals to me because it benefits my club, but for fans of teams like AFC Wimbledon, Derby County and Hartlepool, the idea to have B teams would be disastrous.
Sadly for fans of those teams, the days of English ‘B’ teams isn’t far off, recently the Premier League bullied lower league clubs into signing the EPPP deal, which meant that clubs could sign any youngster no matter where he lived, which 10-year-old wonder kid is going to want to sign for Bury over Manchester City?
Even more recently the FA handed over power to the Premier League, meaning that the FA board could only veto certain rule changes going through, but considering how much the FA have allowed the Premier-League to have in recent times, why wouldn’t they be able to push through this deal for B teams?
The lower league teams aren’t run likes the businesses in the Premier League, they have the community at heart and many are run by volunteers who just love their football club, B teams would mean the death of most of these clubs, but what does the Premier League care?
I would give it a maximum of five years before B teams are rolled out across the football league, and although it may bring the Premier League big boys closer to Barcelona and Real Madrid, it may also mean an end of Doris the tea-lady and surely she is more important to English football?
B Teams good or bad? Tweet me @deanmears.
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If you have a spare 5mins then why not watch the latest episode of ‘The Football Coffee Break’
Dirk Kuyt wants to leave Liverpool this summer and return to former club Feyenoord, according to former team-mate Salomon Kalou.
The ageing forward has played on Merseyside since leaving the Eredivisie outfit back in 2006, but with first-team opportunities becoming limited, has eyed a return to his homeland.
Kalou, who played with Kuyt at Feyenoord, admits that his friend’s time in England may well be nearing an end.
“Dirk told me he wants to return now,” the Chelsea forward told Dutch reporters, translated to English by Mirror Football.
“Dirk said to me that I also must come, that we both have to return to Feyenoord.”
The Netherlands international will not command a sizeable transfer fee, and it is thought that Kuyt has a release clause in his contract that allows him to join a foreign club for just £1million.
Meanwhile, Joe Cole looks set to return to Anfield after Lille’s president admitted that they cannot afford to sign him permanently.
The attacking midfielder has spent a season on loan with the Ligue 1 champions this term, and has previously stated that he wants to stay in France, but this looks unlikely.
“Joe Cole has spoken and I thought it was great,” Michel Seydoux admitted.
“It’s rare that an English player comes to France and says he wants to continue.
“A discussion has been held. Money is an issue,” he confessed.
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Cole is said to earn £90,000-a-week currently with Liverpool.
Didier Drogba laid the ghosts of Moscow 2008 to rest scoring the winning penalty at the Allianz Arena as Chelsea triumphed over Bayern Munich in the shootout to seal the Champions League for the first time in their history .
The Ivorian international, who is out of contract at the end of the season, had already saved Chelsea in normal time heading home a Juan Mata corner two minutes from time after the German side looked to have nicked the trophy moments earlier after Thomas Muller had nodded home from close range. The 34-year-old almost went from hero to villain in extra time giving away a penalty after clipping Frank Ribery in 18-yard area only for Petr Cech spare his blushed keeping out Arjen Robbens tame spot kick as the additional 30 minutes failed to separate the two sides. But the Blues hopes of taking the trophy back to Stamford Bridge looked slim as they fell 3-1 behind during the shootout only for Bayern to lose their nerve and present Drogba with the opportunity to crown Chelsea as champions of Europe in what could be his last game for the club.
It was only four years ago that the West Londoners, led by another interim in the form of Avram Grant, lost on penalties to Manchester United on a wet night in the Russian capital. A similar chain of events have transpired this time around with Roberto Di Matteo picking up the pieces of Andre Villas-Boas’ disastrous reign, restoring a sense of pride to the club and delivering the trophy owner Roman Abramovich has craved ever since he bought the club in 2003. Whether this will secure the managers job permanently for Di Matteo has yet to be decided although he’ll certainly come under serious consideration after this.
He displayed his astute tactical intelligence by setting Chelsea’s stall out to frustrate Bayern and for much of the contest it worked as Jupp Heynckes’ side struggled to break down an unflinching defence containing the half fit duo of Gary Cahill and David Luiz. When the Bundesliga side did carve out an opportunity it was wasted by top scorer Mario Gomez who displayed none of the composure or ruthlessness that has bagged him over 40 goals this season. The German international’s control let him down in the first instance as he tried to trap a fizzing Frank Ribery cross before he lashed over just before half time as his frustration grew on home turf.
Just after the break Ribery thought he’d broken the deadlock only for his tap in from Robben’s deflected strike ruled out for offside as they continued to ask questions of a supremely disciplined Chelsea side. It took until the 83rd minute to break the Blue resistance as Muller stole in behind man of the match Ashley Cole to meet Tony Kroos’ deep cross to nod a downward header past Cech and put Bayern on the brink of a fifth Champions League triumph. But there was to be cruel twist in the tail as Drogba provided a stunning riposte five minutes later rising highest to power Juan Mata’s corner past Manuel Neuer to send the away support behind the goal into ecstasy and the game into extra time.
Just three minutes after the restart though Drogba rashly bundled Ribery over in the area giving Robben the chance to snatch the lead back only for Cech to save from his former teammate and keep Chelsea in the hunt. Blue hearts were in their mouths after Ivicia Olic stole in behind the Jose Boswinga but opted to cross as opposed to shooting and seeing the ball trickle wide as or substitute Daniel Van Buyten agonisingly tried to make contact.
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But it was left to a straight shootout to decide a tensely, absorbing contest and Bayern looked to have one hand on the trophy as they raced into a 3-1 lead. But fighting back from adversity has been the overriding narrative of Chelsea’s season and Cech showed his mettle saving from Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger giving Drogba the platform to complete his redemption and clinch the Champions League trophy.
The new fixture lists for the Football League were released on Monday and there is a somewhat different look to it for Coventry City.
With Coventry now being a part of the third tier of English football there isn’t many fixtures that stand out as ones to look forward too.
Coventry begin their new season with a trip to Somerset where they will meet Yeovil Town for the very first time.
Now as a Coventry fan I never envisaged us having to play Yeovil as a league fixture but the fact we are is both a testament to their recent success and it also highlights the plight of Coventry City Football Club.
Coventry’s second game is at home to Sheffield United who will probably be considered the biggest club in League One. This fixture is more what Coventry fans have become accustomed after spending a number of years in the Championship. The only difference when they meet this time is both these clubs will hopefully have promotion aspirations instead of trying to stave of relegation.
Looking beyond Sheffield United though and it is hard to find another club in league one that could still be considered as a big club. For that reason a bit of a culture shock is on the cards for many Coventry fans as the grounds are going to be smaller and the pitches are going to be in worse conditions.
We will be the big club of the league and teams will undoubtedly up their games against us. Playing at the Ricoh Arena will be the highlight of the season for the majority of the clubs and for that reason alone next season will be a tough season for us.
Another disappointing aspect to life in League One is that there is now no real derby games for us as a club. It has been suggested that the games against Notts County and Walsall will be our derby matches as they are reasonably close geographically.
However for me a local derby is not all about geography is it about the history between the two clubs and the so called bragging rights that come with victory. This relationship does not exist with these clubs in League One which just adds to the dissapointment of being relegated.
With the lack of so called big games and derby matches that we are going to experience in the new season, this campaign could be a slightly uneventful one. The hope has to remain though that we can somehow put a team together that realistically has a chance of gaining promotion or at least challenges for it.
This hope though remains bleak with the behind the scenes problems at the club continuing. More signs of cost cutting over the past week as redundancies were announced by the club. The most high profile individual to go was first team coach and Andy Thorn’s assistant Steve Harrison.
Harrison has been at the club for three years working under three different managers in his time. He was initially brought to the club by Chris Coleman after Steve Kean left as his assistant. He then stayed on as assistant to Aidy Boothroyd and now to Andy Thorn. It is clear that he is liked by all and is widely respected as a good coach but there have been question marks over whether he could have been part of the problem at Coventry.
His time at Coventry has not been a good time for the club having experienced three years of fighting relegation which ultimately ended in failure. He has to be questioned this season more than any other. Clearly Andy Thorn is a manager who is learning his trade but his assistant Harrison has worked under numerous different managers and surely has learnt what the job entails and what works and what doesn’t.
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For this reason he must have been helping and advising Thorn on such things as the tactics of the team. Thorn consistently took heavy criticism for his lack of tactical nous and personally I have always found it a little difficult to attribute all the blame to him. I do not doubt Harrison’s ability as a coach as he has had a long and distinguished career in the game but he must have had some part in the decisions that Thorn made yet he has come away from the club with his reputation unscathed.
This change could then turn out to be a positive change for the club even if it has came about for the wrong reasons. A replacement for him will most likely be found from within the club and the only candidate I can think of is ex-Coventry player Lee Carsley who has been a coach at the club over the past year. He is an up and coming young coach with a lot of potential and could offer a new way of thinking which could aid Andy Thorn in the coming season. It is a bit of a risk but a risk that due to the financial restraints on the club will have to be taken.
After romping to the Conference title last season Fleetwood Twon are new arrivals in the Football League who have high hopes of consecutive promotions. FootballFanCast Fleetwood blogger Sam Heaney takes a look at the summer activity so far this at Highbury Stadium.
My club, Fleetwood Town have made several summer-signings early on as we approach our first season in the Football League. After releasing a lot of players from last season it was inevitable that the club would be welcoming some new faces.
Starting off with the goalkeeping department and Chris Maxwell. The ex-Wrexham player impressed me last season when he played against us at the away fixture keeping a clean sheet and looking very comfortable indeed. Our other keeper, Scott Davies, had a very good season so it will be down to their pre-season matches to prove themselves.
Former Crawley left-back, Dean Howells, joined us and will hopefully bring all his experience with him. He’s 31 years old now and has played in the Football League so I am hoping that it’s a solid signing. Town already have two solid left-backs so it will be good competition to get into the starting line-up.
Moving into the midfield area and what looks to be a terrific signing in Damien Johnson. The central-midfielder recently won promotion to the Championship with Huddersfield Town so should be more than a match for League Two football. I shall look forward to seeing him in a Town shirt next season. His experience of playing in the Premier league also shows he obviously has some talent.
Out of the six signings made so far, three of them are forwards and they all look very promising.
Jon Parkin is a big striker who will be able to hold the ball up for us against the tougher sides in the League which will help create a platform for us to build on. The giant striker also can put the ball in the net which I’m hoping he does this on a regular basis in red and white.
The next striker is Steven Gillespie. I don’t know much about this player but after speaking to a Cheltenham fan I think he will be a huge asset to the side. I’ve heard he was their best striker so it looks promising. Finally, Alex Titchiner from Witton Albion sounds like a deadly striker. He scored 39 goals in their league campaign seeing the Albion gain promotion. He is a young player so I’m hoping he will bring a bit of flair and pace into the team.
We have also given youth team member, Jamie Allen a professional contract which is good for the team and is a wide player which is just what we need.
After the signings made already I feel we no longer need to strengthen in the attacking area. I would like to see a winger come into the club, with a bit of pace and vision. Also I think we need a right-back as a back-up for Shaun Beeley. Then a centre-back who will need to be tall and have a bit of pace because we have lacked this in the past.
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There are no players I have in mind at the moment but I think an input of experienced league players will help us massively next season as we prepare for our first season in the Football League.
By Sam Heaney. Follow him on Twitter for even more discussion about Fleetwood Town.
Roberto Mancini is thought to have approached the Manchester City board for the release of the required funds to try and sign Robin van Persie, Mirror Football report.
The Dutch forward is in the last year of his contract at Arsenal, and despite the Gunners being desperate to keep their captain at the Emirates Stadium, the attacker is yet to sign a new deal.
The PFA Player of the Year is thought to have rejected a record-setting offer from Arsene Wenger’s men to extend his stay with the north London club, with a number of big European clubs monitoring the situation.
City are said to have put Van Persie to the top of their summer transfer wishlist, and have a track record of signing players from Arsenal.
Mancini is keen to start negotiations with Arsenal in a bid to try and persuade Van Persie to seek out a move to the Premier League champions, but there is thought to have been a dispute as the City board want to offload out-of-favour strikers Edin Dzeko and Emmanuel Adebayor first.
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Mallorca defender Ivan Ramis is set to have a medical at West Ham in advance of a move to England.
The Hammers are eager to bolster their squad ahead of their Premier League return, and have targeted the Spaniard as a player to give them strength in depth.
Sam Allardyce’s men have beaten a raft of other Premier League clubs including Wigan and Everton to the 27-year-old, and will become the Upton Park side’s sixth summer signing.
“Mallorca and West Ham have reached an agreement for the transfer of Ivan Ramis,” a statement on the Mallorca website reads, translated to English by Sky Sports.
“The Mallorcan defender has the permission of the club to have a medical with what will be his new team.”
Ramis will join the likes of Modibo Maiga and Mohamed Diame as new faces at the London club this summer.
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Tottenham have announced the signature of Moussa Dembele from Premier League rivals Fulham.
The north London club agreed to sell Luka Modric to Real Madrid on Monday, and as such needed a creative midfielder as a replacement.
The Belgium international has grown in stature at Craven Cottage over the last two years, with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea also touted with interest in the player.
However, Spurs have confirmed that they have sown up a deal for the player to move to White Hart Lane for an undisclosed fee.
“We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Fulham for the transfer of Moussa Dembele,” a club statement on the official website reads.
Dembele has expressed his delight at moving to Andre Villas-Boas’ men and becomes the fourth summer signing after Emmanuel Adebayor, Jan Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson.
“I’m happy to join Spurs, it’s a fantastic club,” the midfielder admitted.
“You can see over the last few years that Spurs have played well, everybody knows it’s a good team and a good club and that’s why I wanted to come here.
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“The club has plans to do lots of good things and that’s why I want to be a part of it,” he concluded.
Ashley Westwood insists he won’t be fazed by the step up to the Barclays Premier League – after being boosted by a pep talk from Paul Lambert.
Westwood, who made his first appearance for the club in Saturday’s Barclays U21 Premier League clash against Southampton, has been told he can have a big impact on the top-flight stage for Villa, and the former Crewe midfielder can’t wait to make his senior debut after being boosted by the manager’s words of wisdom.
The youngster told the official Aston Villa website:
“There was one thing that stuck in my mind from when I came to sign, the manager said: ‘I don’t want you to come here and be a shrinking violet, I want you to come here and play the way that you can and that you have been playing for Crewe.’ He said to me: ‘It’s the same sized ball you’re used to, it’s the same size in League One, in the Premier League, so there’s no difference.”
Westwood is delighted to be at the forefront of Lambert’s vision for a young, hungry and vibrant Villa side. He believes his experience of first team football at Crewe, where he made more than 100 appearances, will stand him in good stead.
“There’s a lot of young English lads coming through and that’s always good for the game. The gaffer did it at Norwich and is trying to do the same thing he. He’s bringing young lads through because he knows that we’re hungry and we want to do well and that we love football. I played more than 130 first team games for Crewe I think and men’s football is where you want to be playing.”
Westwood has always been confident of fulfilling his Premier League dream.
“I always said to my dad, everyone finds their level, so it was just a matter of time really. That’s not me being big-headed, it’s being confident of my own ability and this is where I feel I belong.”
The youngster may make his debut in Villa’s next Barclays Premier League fixture against Swansea on the 15th September.